NEW DELHI: 'Election strategists' of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Madhusudan Mistry and CP Joshi, have been dropped from the AICC screening committees for the upcoming assembly elections to four states announced by party chief Sonia Gandhi on Friday. This has created a buzz in party circles as it coincides with growing in-house criticism of Team Rahul for the manner in which it had experimented with organisational, electoral and candidates' selection in the run up to the disastrous Lok Sabha polls. Mistry and Joshi were seen as main executioners of Team Rahul's style of selecting candidates.

While many traditional leaders, or the so-called 'old guard', found key roles in the AICC panel, only notable figures from Team Rahul are Jitendra Singh (heading the panel for Jharkhand) and Manek Tagore (a member in Haryana panel). The composition of the four panels clearly show Sonia Gandhi has chosen many traditional leaders while giving representation to some from Rahul Gandhi's young team. The AICC screening committee always comprises a chairman, respective PCC presidents, Congress legislative party leaders, AICC general secretary in-charge and a member.

Veteran Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge will head the AICC screening panel for selection of candidates in Maharashtra, where the ruling Congress-NCP front faces a gloomy scenario after its rout in the LS polls. While senior leader PC Chacko will head the panel for Haryana, Ajay Maken, part of the traditional Congress system even before the advent of 'Team Rahul' would head the panel for J&K.

During the Lok Sabha polls, Mistry was a key player of the election-management system with AICC observers reporting to him. During Congress' ill-fated assembly elections to Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi, both Mistry and Joshi played key roles in selection of candidate, often rubbing traditional leaders the wrong way. While Joshi headed the AICC screening panel for Chhattisgarh, Mistry headed the panel for Madhya Pradesh.